Industrial Courses in Color-Imaging to be Offered at RIT’s - Internationally Known Munsell Color Science Laboratory

Industrial courses for the color imaging community will be offered June 4–7 by Rochester Institute of Technology’s Munsell Color Science Laboratory, part of the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.

The session will begin with a two-day introductory colorimetry course followed by a selection of courses about specific topics. Each course will include laboratory sessions.

"Principles of Color Technology," a fundamental course, will be taught by Roy Berns and Mark Fairchild on June 4–5. This course introduces basic colorimetry through derivation of the CIE system of tristimulus values, color spaces such as CIELAB, and color difference equations such as CIE94 and CMC. It also describes instrumentation for colorimetry and the evaluation of measurement accuracy and precision. Colorimetry is used in a variety of industries including coatings, textiles, automobiles, plastics and image reproduction.

The following advanced courses will be offered June 6–7:

"Optimization Techniques for Color Reproduction" will be taught by Noboru Ohta. This course introduces the use of numerical optimization for determining optimal spectral characteristics for high-quality color imaging systems, such as television, printing and photography. Optimization techniques currently employed in the industry will be explored through interactive discussions and intensive in-class programming assignments, plus one homework assignment.

"Vision and Psychophysics," will provide an overview of the structure, function and performance of the human visual system and a detailed introduction to visual psychophysics. Psychophysical experiments allow quantitative measurement of visual perceptions and have applications in areas such as color tolerances, image quality and algorithm evaluation. Ethan Montag will teach this course.

"Instrumental-based Color Matching" will be taught by Roy Berns. Instrumental-based color matching exploits colorimetry, color physics and computer science, resulting in systems that aid colorists in matching existing and new colors. This course will cover the basic concepts of color mixing for transparent and opaque materials, colorant identification, spectral matching and colorimetric matching. Through hands-on laboratories, participants will learn the importance of the colorant database and of attaining the least metameric match.

"Color Appearance Models," to be taught by Mark Fairchild, will provide a detailed overview of the CIECAM97s color appearance model and recent advancements. This course also will cover the fundamental phenomena and techniques of color appearance modeling. (Color appearance extends basic colorimetry to meaningful descriptions of color across large changes in viewing conditions such as changes across media and viewing environments in imaging systems.)

"Device Profiles for Color Management," taught by Mitchell Rosen, will focus on techniques for incorporating device characterization into ICC-compatible device profiles. Various profiling techniques and options will be explored. Students will prepare and encode characterization data generated from various methods ranging from direct measurement to analytical modeling. Laboratory exercises will provide experience in building profiles for a variety of input and output devices.

"Halftone Theory and Practice," taught by Jonathan Arney, will teach participants about the optical and physical principles that govern tone and color reproduction in printed halftone images. Strategies for designing halftone algorithms based on these optical and physical principles, as well as the characteristics of human vision, will be reviewed. Participants will perform hands-on experiments to characterize different classes of halftones with different printing technologies. Experiments will include video-microscopic analysis of the physical and optical behavior of these halftone systems. The experiments will focus on analytical techniques that provide guidance to the design and optimization of materials and processes of halftone systems through understanding the mechanistic principles of the materials, processes and optics of halftone imaging.

For more information about the Munsell Color Science Laboratory’s summer school of industrial short courses at RIT, log onto www.cis.rit.edu/mcsl.